JWD40 wrote:I but in their defence, in the wake of the recent John Edwards incident, the FAR has been shaken up a bit and as a result has been left short staffed. The currently slowdown hasn't specifically been a result of increased licence applications or deliberate government bureaucracy. It's that they've lost a lot of people. Or so I've been told by someone who should be in the know.

In defence of the run-of-the-mill employees sure. But you could argue that the fact that they're perpetually understaffed contributed greatly to John Edwards slipping through the cracks. And the management team "solved" that problem by LOWERING staffing levels!? Seems counter intuitive to me.

GojiraSteve wrote:In defence of the run-of-the-mill employees sure. But you could argue that the fact that they're perpetually understaffed contributed greatly to John Edwards slipping through the cracks. And the management team "solved" that problem by LOWERING staffing levels!? Seems counter intuitive to me.

I won't argue about perpetually being understaffed. I agree with it. I'm in favor for it being mostly automated.Computers will generally give a faster and more consistent outcome, leaving employees to spend more time assessing the people the computer doesn't like.

As for John Edwards, I don't know much about how he actually got issued a firearm. From what I've read, he was initially refused based on a AVO put on him 10 years prier. He then requested a commissioners permit to bypass the restriction. Due to AVO being a decade old, they decided he wasn't a risk. Was it the right decision? i think it's too easy to say "obviously not!" But these decisions aren't always easy and we don't have all the facts.

I find it hard to believe anyone emotionally motivated to commit murder would wait half a year to buy a gun when they could achieve the same devastation in a more discreet manner with a knife. I could be totally wrong, but my gut is telling me that he actually just wanted to shoot a gun, and it was that simple.But after he had the gun, it became convenience...

Perhaps based off his historical AVO they should have got in contact with people who know him, to better asses his mental state. Or maybe they already did ? I'd doubt it, highly doubt it. But as i said, we don't know all the facts. And if he hadn't had an AVO from 10 years ago, he wouldn't have had any trouble in getting a gun in the first place and most likely would have committed the crime anyway.

From what I've been told, the reduction in staff was more voluntary rather than sackings. I've been told this in good faith so i don't want to say too much. But the lack of staff doesn't seem to have been anything intentional. As far as i last heard, there currently isn't a verdict about how things happened, or any planned penalty (such as deliberate delays) to applicants.

zhuk wrote:When I rang FAR last Friday it was denied that there any staff cuts had occurred at all ...but only that "lots more people are getting licences/PTAs"

I've been told, that if asked, they are to deny anything about being short staffed. They were meant to say something instead, I can't remember exactly. But it was something along the lines of "we've received an unusually high volume of applications"

I want to re-affirm that i don't know this information first hand. It's just something I've been told off someone who should know what's going on and I've taken their word for it.

Edit: just to add to this, the person i know also said there hadn't been 'staff cuts' as such. That the loss in people had been voluntary departure. They also didn't mention quantity of departure. i.e. one person, or many people. But based off the context, it sounded like it was the cause of the delays.

zhuk wrote:When I rang FAR last Friday it was denied that there any staff cuts had occurred at all ...but only that "lots more people are getting licences/PTAs"

I've been told, that if asked, they are to deny anything about being short staffed. They were meant to say something instead, I can't remember exactly. But it was something along the lines of "we've received an unusually high volume of applications"

I want to re-affirm that i don't know this information first hand. It's just something I've been told off someone who should know what's going on and I've taken their word for it.

Edit: just to add to this, the person i know also said there hadn't been 'staff cuts' as such. That the loss in people had been voluntary departure. They also didn't mention quantity of departure. i.e. one person, or many people. But based off the context, it sounded like it was the cause of the delays.

I don't doubt at all that they've been instructed to give that line. But the slowdown as it seems to be is only very recent I had another PTA received on Sep 27, issued on Oct 3 and received 2 days later. Fairly fast for a paper application. So everything seems to have banked right up from the end of October onwards.

zhuk wrote:I don't doubt at all that they've been instructed to give that line. But the slowdown as it seems to be is only very recent I had another PTA received on Sep 27, issued on Oct 3 and received 2 days later. Fairly fast for a paper application. So everything seems to have banked right up from the end of October onward.

Interesting...When it comes to licencing, the slowdown clearly started around early July and seems to be taking twice as long as normal.Perhaps there are two different ques ?, or maybe they were prioritising PTA's, and in the last month have stopped prioritising. I dono, at this point i'm just guessing.

When did you apply/receive your licence zhuk ? Was it this year, or you've had it for a while and just applying for PTA. (interested in getting more time frames from people, as so far there is only 3-4 on this post that have mentioned their experience with licence application.

zhuk wrote:I don't doubt at all that they've been instructed to give that line. But the slowdown as it seems to be is only very recent I had another PTA received on Sep 27, issued on Oct 3 and received 2 days later. Fairly fast for a paper application. So everything seems to have banked right up from the end of October onward.

Interesting...When it comes to licencing, the slowdown clearly started around early July and seems to be taking twice as long as normal.Perhaps there are two different ques ?, or maybe they were prioritising PTA's, and in the last month have stopped prioritising. I dono, at this point i'm just guessing.

When did you apply/receive your licence zhuk ? Was it this year, or you've had it for a while and just applying for PTA. (interested in getting more time frames from people, as so far there is only 3-4 on this post that have mentioned their experience with licence application.

Hey JWD, apologies if I've semi-derailed this thread on that score!

Yes it's just the PTA application; I have done many, many lol of them since I was licensed in 2009. But none hadn't been received by the 2 1/2 week mark as is the current case. I'd imagine there would definitely be two queues re licences and PTAs, since the first involves not only the cooling-off period but Federal police checks etc. There's been a changeover of the FAR director recently as well which might have thrown a spanner in the bureaucratic works, but that doesn't explain why licences have been double the time-length since July....and I thought waiting 6 weeks was long enough

JWD40 wrote:Is that so! I hope they plan to finish off this new Service NSW system. I also hope that the new system is as good as it could be.

According to what I've read on australianhunting.net, yeah mate. And absolutely agree...hey if we can eventually have a system even vaguely close to VIC or QLD in the end that will be a long­­­­­­­-deserved win all round

JWD40 wrote:Perhaps based off his historical AVO they should have got in contact with people who know him, to better asses his mental state. Or maybe they already did ? I'd doubt it, highly doubt it. But as i said, we don't know all the facts. And if he hadn't had an AVO from 10 years ago, he wouldn't have had any trouble in getting a gun in the first place and most likely would have committed the crime anyway.

From what I've been told, the reduction in staff was more voluntary rather than sackings. I've been told this in good faith so i don't want to say too much. But the lack of staff doesn't seem to have been anything intentional. As far as i last heard, there currently isn't a verdict about how things happened, or any planned penalty (such as deliberate delays) to applicants.

This is where the system falls down, re assessing people. If we had a regimen like NZ where every licence applicant must provide referees and also receive a home visit from licensing police with a lengthy interview (plus family/spouse being interviewed separately to the applicant) those like Edwards wouldn't have stood a chance. Also the fact of a 10 yr moratorium time limit for AVOs (plus the same for convictions of violence involving firearms, and also terrorism convictions, rather unbelievably) is ludicrous...considering that in NSW if you have ever - not 10 years - received treatment for depression for example you must provide a psychiatrist's report attesting to your suitability for a licence. That is, if you don't lie on your application form in the first place. I was treated for depression as a teenager more than 35 years ago and could not with any kind of clear conscience provide false information on a govt document, even though people were telling me, "they'll never check" (which is true). When my first licence renewal came around I spent 3 1/2 months looking for a doctor who would be prepared to write a report for the Registry...as far as I know there is only one in the Sydney metro area who has done them previously and was prepared to provide one. Yes I did get a pretty much glowing report from him, but it cost me $900 for an hour long appt. And as my licence is up for renewal next year I can only wonder if I will have to go through all that again.

If we had the kind of system NZ has I think that would be a great improvement...and if we could have their MSSAs (military style semi automatics) even better (Ok that last remark was obviously a joke, unfortunately lol)

I applied for my paperwork back in April, waited for months, rung them 13/11, she processed it over the phone, and was sending it out the next day. The lovely lady said, it'll take 7-10 days before i receive it. I asked her about the delays, and i was told they are very short staffed, and a lot of paperwork to get through. I did read somewhere online, that a lot of FAR business will soon be online, like they have done with the PTA forms.

Doesn't help those whom give up time, effort and money to jump through all the hoops and just want to get involved in the sport, to be sidelined due to lack of employees. Maybe, they need to employ more staff, obviously the work loads must permit it........ oh wait, it's NSW, enough said.

Pretty much par for the course yeah, bumpy. I know someone who's been waiting over 3 months for his licence renewal processing, of course his licence has now expired but given "authority to continue". Does not help when the new broom comes in as head and gives 1;/3 of the staff "voluntary redundancies" lol

Wonky, please come back when you have your licence. To let us know. I could be totally wrong, totally totally wrong, but i have a hunch that you'll receive your licence within the next week or so (if you haven't already). My hunch is a long shot though

Wonky, please come back when you have your licence. To let us know. I could be totally wrong, totally totally wrong, but i have a hunch that you'll receive your licence within the next week or so (if you haven't already). My hunch is a long shot though

They are not taking that long because they are being particularly vigilant in their background checks, more and more it is looking like deliberate bureaucratic bastardry.

What we need is some sort of independent oversight of this.

I can foresee, albeit with my foil hat on, a time when these delays, particularly with renewals, will be used as an excuse for confiscation of legally owned firearms.

The lacy panty brigade say the laws are being watered down and under threat from us FFS.. This is just a misdirection tactic, in my admittedly jaundiced view of all levels of government, to cover the deliberate erosion of the ability of well meaning, law abiding firearms owners to persue their sport or hobby.